Dehumidifier vs venting.

[TTS North]

I have a 5 cubic metre area in the workshop which lends itself very well to being insulated and sealed off.

 

Assuming I can get the temperature right up - what would be the quickest way to dry logs in there - condensing dehumidifier or venting? I have access to both.

 

Reading older threads on the topic I know there are some pretty knowledgeable people on here, so hoping someone can point me in the right direction.

 

Thanks, TTS.

[farmer rod]

If you are bothering to raise the temperature at all, the the de-hum will keep the energy in the system, so more efficient than venting

[Woodworks]

Would have thought venting. My IBC crates of logs loose 150 kg through drying. So 5 m3 you are looking at 750 litres of water to move. That's a hell of a lot for a dehumidifier to shift.

[aesmith]

What sort of temperature? I think the point about the quantity of water counts both ways, it will need a lot of air throughput to carry out 750 litres of water, and during that time as well as the heated air being lost you also lose the latent heat from that water. Dehumidifier keeps both in. Also depends on how much the heat costs compared to running costs for the dehumidifier.

[TTS North]

Thanks all. I can get the air temp up to 60-70 c. The space is 5 m3 - the actual volume of logs will be 2-3 m3 max.

[FJMatt]

In side my kiln it can be above 70' but unless you can vent that hot humid air and replace it with clean air the wood wont dry

What you need is as much air flow as you can get

[arboriculturist]

It's a non starter for several of the above reasons.

 

Drying timber usually requires a hefty investment or a lot of prior knowledge about force drying and the ability to source the correct used equipment at low cost / knowledge to design an efficient system.

[Logrod]

If you're only interested in speed and cost is no object then air flow is better than dehumidifier. High air flow will reduce the air humidity faster than a dehumidifier and the time to actually drive the moisture out of the logs will be highly dependent on the air humidity. If on the other hand you're prepared to take a couple of weeks or so to dry your 2 cubic meters of logs then the dehumidifier load is that great (~ 1 litre per hour) and you'd probably save on fuel that way.

[aesmith]

My (amateur) experience suggests that wood loses the first lot of moisture pretty quickly, so long as there's enough ventilation and without needing that much heat. If that's correct, it might be better to use a lot of ventilation at low temperature until the wood's down to 30% or so.

[arboriculturist]

I have a 5 cubic metre area in the workshop which lends itself very well to being insulated and sealed off.

 

Assuming I can get the temperature right up - what would be the quickest way to dry logs in there - condensing dehumidifier or venting? I have access to both.

 

Reading older threads on the topic I know there are some pretty knowledgeable people on here, so hoping someone can point me in the right direction.

 

Thanks, TTS.

 

Apologies, rush read your post - I though you were planning to dry quantity.

 

Without a Kiln fastest way to dry your timber is outside on pallets, orientate pallets to allow prevailing wind to blow between rows of logs, stacked single rows, gap between rows and cover with Corrugated iron.